CARAVAN OF DREAMS

This album is actually credited to a band called Richard Sinclair's Caravan of Dreams. Sinclair is of course one of the founding fathers and general good guys of Canterbury Prog. He is probably best known for his work with Caravan, hence the band name. The line up here draws from the great and the good of Canterbury, including Richard's cousin Dave, Jimmy Hastings of Caravan, and Andy Ward, drummer with Camel. Assistance with the lyrics came from the luminaries Pip Pyle and Hugh Hopper.

There are two distinct aspects to the album. The first seven tracks are studio recordings on which Sinclair is very much the main player.He is assisted by the who's who of Canterbury mentioned above but, for these tracks at least, this is very much a solo effort. Several of the songs feature the whimsical flippancy of Caravan's lighter numbers such as "Golf girl" and "In the land of grey and pink". It is though the more sensitive songs such as the corny named "Plan it earth" and "Keep on caring" which are the signature tracks, with both running to over 7 minutes.

"Heather" is a touching dedication to Richard's long term partner, who is now his wife, perhaps inspired by the wedding bells at the end of the song! "Emily" appears to be an altogether much younger lady.

The latter part of the album has five songs performed live at the Wilde Theatre in Bracknell in the south of the UK, hence the titles of tracks 10 and 11. These tracks tend to be much looser affairs based around improvisation. As such they are closer to the prog side of bands such Caravan and Hatfield and the North. The final four tracks, although listed individually, merge together to form a coherent whole.

Being essentially a solo album, this release naturally focuses on one aspect of what made Caravan such a fine band. It does though remind us what a significant part of that band Sinclair was (is?). This release can easily be accepted as a lost Caravan album, it is certainly worthy of such an accolade.

"Caravan of Dreams" is currently out of print, but Sinclair's website promises a re- release "this year".

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